First thing, if your truck is still under warranty I recommend taking it to the dealer. Hopefully they will take care of it and even if they don't, at the very least it will be documented. If they essentially blow you off like they did to me, continue reading.
For some of us the 5.7 Hemi is a nice smooth running engine with any oil we put in it. For others the 5.7 Hemi has a pretty loud ticking sound either on startup or after its completely warmed up. Not to be confused with a broken exhaust manifold bolt(s), this is a metal on metal tick that comes from the internals of the engine, most likely from the lifters although that's never been proven 100%.
My truck developed a loud tick at a fully warmed up idle around 2500 miles when I drained out Pennzoil Conventional (PYB) 5w20 and put in Pennzoil Platinum (PP) 5w20. The motor sounded horrible, you literally could hear all the metal components hitting against each other. It was simply awful sounding. Now I believe PP is a fantastic oil, it just didn't agree with my Hemi. Over the next few years I tried many different oils including (PYB) 5w20, Pennzoil Ultra Platinum (PUP) 5w20, Amsoil OE 5w20, Amsoil SS 5w20 and 5w30, Redline 5w20/5w30/0w30, Mopar 5w20 from the dealer which is either PYB or Pennzoil Gold. The only two oils that made a difference were PYB 5w20 which somewhat quieted it up, and Redline 5w30 which made the ticking all but disappear. For a complete list of the oil changes I did up until the summer of 2017 check this post out:
Oil list
After taking my truck to the dealer 3 times and 3 times being told it was "normal Hemi noise" I had kind of given up. It was either live with it ticking like it was going to grenade or find my own answers. After reading through the
Synthetic Oil thread on here, I decided to give Redline oil a shot because it has been said on this forum that it quiets Hemi's and also on other forums that it quiets many different engines. I figured there was nothing to lose except some money.
First I tried Redline 5w20. It helped but it was still there. Then I tried Redline 0w30 because at the time I was nervous about running a 30 weight oil in an engine that was spec-ed by the manufacturer for 5w20. 5w20 vs 5w30 is a whole other discussion, long story short, you can run a Xw30 oil in a 5.7 Hemi with absolutely no MDS problems and no codes thrown. This has been proven many times. Anyways 0w30 made it quieter than Redline 5w20, but the ticking was still there at hot idle.
I also tried mixing PUP 4 quarts of 5w30 and and 3 quarts of 0w40 PUP SRT 0w40 (which has a good amount of molybdenum). I ran that for 3300 miles before it started ticking again so the quieting ability didn't last. It did however produce very low wear metals which is important to note.
Then I tried Redline 5w30. I gave it a good 500+ miles for the additional molybdenum that is in Redline oil to plate to all high contact surfaces in the engine. I realize it sounds too good to be true but here's a video documenting how quiet my truck is on Redline 5w30. Pay particular attention from 39 seconds to 1:03.
After finding an oil that actually quiets my Hemi up I decided to try another top shelf oil, Amsoil Signature Series (SS) 5w30. It can be had for much cheaper than Redline and its a damn good oil. So I poured some Amsoil SS 5w30 in my Hemi and started driving it. 500 miles in, it started developing the dreaded hot idle tick again.
This is what it sounded like when I put PP 5w20 in it, except it was easily twice as loud. If I went through a drive thru I would have to shut the truck off to be able to hear anything. It was that bad. Keep in mind the dealer told me on 3 different occasions that it was normal for it sound like that.
I ended up draining out the SS 5w30 and put Redline 5w30 back in. I only have about 100 miles on that oil so its still a little loud but not as loud as it was on SS 5w30.
Let me reiterate, I believe PP and SS are great oils. Many people run them in 5.7s with great results. I run SS 0w20 in my wifes 2017 Jeep GC 3.6 and it runs very smooth and quiet. I am not employed by or sponsored by Red Line Oil, I'm just running it because it works.Other oils that may or may not quiet a Hemi are Schaeffers and Motul. Both have high molybdenum. But as I found out, simply having an oil with high molybdenum such as Amsoil SS doesn't necessarily mean its going to quiet your Hemi.
So if you have a ticking Hemi give Redline 5w30 a shot. If you're worried about running a 5w30 in your 5.7, try Redline 5w20. It has worked for some, but didn't quiet mine up as much as Redline 5w30. When I get 500+ miles on my current Redline 5w30 fill I will take another video to document how quiet it is.
Hope this helps someone else out there quiet their noisy Hemi.
